He’s at the end of his contract and it’s being renewed for a year. Lucky him! But you’re right, Norman. To do it without the blessing of the orchestra is really poor from the management. They are, of course, the ones who have to save their Musical Director on a regular basis, who put up with poor behaviour from the podium, and deal with the various political machinations that go on, so for them not to have the option to say ‘no thanks – don’t extend his contract’ is indeed pretty rubbish.

I’ve no idea what the situation is in Castilla y León, and have been conducted by Gourlay once (unmemorably), so I’ve no idea of specifics but sadly this is generally how it works. Orchestra feel frustrated and unrespected by the Chief Stick, management don’t have the balls to not renew a contract (which said Chief Stick has no right to expect – don’t forget that) and so offer an extension of a year, orchestra finds out second hand and are pretty cross about it.

There is a major court case being brought against this orchestra by a tenured musician which is scheduled for next week. She has impeccable qualifications professionally and her case is strong.

Public speculation is that management has bartered the contract extension as a means of securing Mr. Gourlay’s support against this player. It would explain why the news was not shared with the orchestra and why orchestra manager, Mr. Gimeno, has mysteriously disappeared this week.

From the archives

From the archives

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